FORTY YEARS OF MUNICIPAL ELECTIONS IN CATALONIA: ELECTORAL NATIONALISATION AND POLITICAL STABILITY

This paper analyses the forty years of municipal elections in Catalonia from two perspectives. The first is the academic discussion on the nationalisation of local government. The concept of nationalisation or its complement of second-order elections, refers to the principle by which local elections gradually increase in similarity to parliamentary elections. This perspective stresses the vertical integration of the local level in the national political system and the asymmetrical relationship between the two levels. The second perspective is that of the political stability achieved by local government over these years. During the transition, concerns were raised about local government, as some considered that it would be a source of political instability. This is a hypothesis that should be tested minimally. Therefore, complementary to the analysis of electoral behaviour, the paper examines the tenure and turnover rate of mayors, and the composition of the governments resulting from each town council mandate.